Biography PA Cook (Paul Cooke)
CHAT TO PAUL ON MYSPACE!!!
Paul Cooke was the founder and drummer with the band Sade, Paul's claim to fame was that he helped write and record as well as performed on hits such as 'Smooth Operator & Your Love is King amongst others...from the most successful Sade album to date 'Diamond Life'.
o*Paul was brought up around music as his parents where Salvationists and he used to attend their weekly musical events at the local 'Sally' Army centre in the city of Hull. Paul's uncle a drummer in the Sally Army provided him with his first ever drum kit that got Paul started....
Further to this Paul’s father was a professional entertainer from the mid 70,s onwards and Paul was introduced to the entertainment business from a very young age. Paul's father Tony Cook worked under the stage name of Tony Mandell and he featured in various stage shows worldwide, he appeared in numerous TV shows in the UK as a singer, actor and dancer.
o*Paul studied Piano at the age of 7 and continued his musical education at Hornsea Secondary School, studying the euphonium, French horn, trumpet and percussion, he finally ended up playing drums in the school orchestra at the age of 12. Paul joined the local drama society and performed in various plays and musicals until the age of 13. Paul formed his first pop group at 14 yrs old with local friends in his home town of Hornsea and played in the local area until joining the Hull band "The Posers" featuring Sade's current bass player Paul Denman on vocals....
O*In 1979 Paul played various gig's in Hull and surrounding areas with the 'Posers'. The Posers supported acts locally like "Holly and the Italians" and Roland Gift's (Fine Young Cannibals) band the Acryliks…
In 1980 Paul moved to Stoke-Newington in London and the Posers split a year later, Paul joined Pride with Stuart Mathewman also from the Hull band "The Mods". Paul Denman was persuaded not to go back to his trade as an aerospace worker in Hull, and joined Pride at a later date at the request of Stuart Mathewman & Paul Cooke…
o* Pride split up in 1982 and Sade was formed with the remaining members Paul Cooke, Paul Denman, Stuart Mathewman and Helen Folasade Adu. Paul toured Europe with Sade and performed in the USA, along with TV & Radio performances on TOTP`s, Channel 4 and BBC Radio One….
o* Sade recorded the album Diamond Life in 1983 and it subsequently sold 10 million copies world-wide... Paul was awarded a triple platinum disc by the BPI to recognize sales of over 900,000 copies of the album in the UK alone.
O* Paul left the band Sade in 1985 and formed his own group Esposito an 11-piece Jazz/Latin outfit... Paul Co-wrote the music with singer Dino Houtas, and subsequently managed the band and sang back-up vocals live…
Esposito featured in various music media publications and played the London and South England jazz/dance club circuit, Esposito's final gig was at the Albert Hall in 1986, supporting Curiosity Killed the Cat at the Smirnoff Fashion Awards, the event was one of the first broadcast on the fledgling satellite service 'SKY'.
O* Esposito recorded one single on the Madness owned label Zarjazz based in Camden; London…The single re-corded was "Message in The Melody".... The single featured "Jimmy", Earth Wind & Fires original backing vocalist…and was co-produced by Paul Cooke and Mark Bedford the bass player from Madness…Further to this Paul & Dino provided backing vocals for the Madness hit "Uncle Sam".
o* After Producing and collaborating with various artists in London throughout the late 80`s. Paul formed Papa "D", fronted this band and wrote and produced the music, gig`s at Moles Club and the Brighton Pavilion played and various demos where recorded for Sony Records & Zomba Publishing...Recording contracts at the time offered by London Records and Publishing contracts via Zomba for work related to Paul’s ‘Esposito’ project…
o* Paul returned to his home town of Hull in 1990 and formed his first record label IVI Records Ltd, he wrote and produced two singles "Love" and "No Promotion", Paul also started working with video and went onto direct one promo video for the label..
Paul continued to produce music throughout the 90's and worked closely with Time Records based in Nottingham after winning a Future Music Publishing competition. Paul formed 'P Eye Eye' with Andrew Smith from London and co-produced and wrote experimental tracks like "Lost At Sea" featured and released worldwide on Defunct Records in NYC, USA and Time Recordings Ltd in the UK, the title was: EMIT 2295 & 2000.
Paul spent some time in the late 90`s working with the Coptic label in the Bronx, working with underground urban hip hop artists and producers, he worked with artists like "Mr Magic (Rapper) & Jenni Fujita (Vocalist from the band The Fugee`s)...Jenni featured on the album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill".
o* Paul started experimenting with computers and music in the early 90's and has evolved into a Multi-Media/Producer of some quality he completed a BA Honours degree in Interactive Multimedia Design in Hull in 2000....Paul's dissertation "New Media in Cyberspace" an exploration of emerging music codec`s and the affect on the present day music industry i.e.: Mp3 was published via Tagit Media in NYC, USA. Paul also contributes as a writer for Musicdish.com and provided Music Industry Insider comment and reviewed various publications and emerging music software packages for the company…… http://www.musicdish.com
Paul has continued his work with film and was Associate Music Producer and Executive Producer for the film "Bye Bye Havana" completed in 2005... http://www.byebyehavana.com/
Other work includes the Digital Storytelling project "Telling Lives", Paul’s story “Reflections” was chosen, produced and developed by Paul and the BBC team and is now archived and available as a stream on the BBC website, as well as residing at the Bradford Film & Television Centre. http://www.bbc.co.uk/tellinglives
Further to this Paul was nominated as a Director for PAMRA, Paul was elected by its members in 2003 and subsequently served on the board of PAMRA (Performing Artists Media Rights Association) Ltd based in London.
Paul was also Executive Producer on Rolan Bolan's first album in 2003 and helped negotiated the recording contract in-conjunction with Native Records & DAS Communications (Black Eyed Peas management) in NYC, USA....
Paul has worked as a scout for Roadrunner Records & CNR International to identify future bands for the company’s portfolio..and was also briefly UK A&R Director for Fiberline.com a new online music service based in Las Vegas, USA.
Paul's latest venture 'Diamond Life Record' continues to promote his 'P Eye Eye' project and his solo albums Make Tea not War Vol 1-4...available NOW on ITUNES & CDBABY
Make Tea not War - Paul Cooke
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